Despite voicing his innocence, Fernando Suarez, chancellor of King Juan Carlos University in Madrid was dismissed as the head of a national education commission in Spain due to claims that he plagiarized the work of his students and other historians during a ten-year time span ("
Spanish University Head Accused of Copy-Paste Plagiarism,"
BBC News, December 16, 2016). Recently, Suarez informed students that the institution would start using Unplag, a plagiarism checker that promotes "standards of integrity, academic honesty, and independent thinking," according to his email. University students circulated nine petitions calling for his ouster.
Discussion Questions:
- If you were a student at King Juan Carlos University, does an accusation provide enough evidence to call for this chancellor to leave his position? Why or why not?
- If you were a student at this university, would you petition the chancellor to submit his work to Unplag to check for plagiarism? Why or why not?
- Should university officials be held to a higher standard of academic honesty or the same standard as students? Why or why not?
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